Plant disease
plant pathology

Plant disease

plant pathology


General considerations

Nature and importance of plant diseases

Plant diseases are known from times preceding the earliest writings. Fossil evidence indicates that plants were affected by disease 250 million years ago. The Bible and other early writings mention diseases, such as rusts, mildews, and blights, that have caused famine and other drastic changes in the economy of nations since the dawn of recorded history. Other plant disease outbreaks with similar far-reaching effects in more recent times include late blight of potato in Ireland (1845–60); powdery and downy mildews of grape in France (1851 and 1878); coffee rust in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; starting in the 1870s); Fusarium wilts of cotton and flax; southern bacterial wilt of tobacco (early 1900s); Sigatoka leaf spot and Panama disease of banana in Central America (1900–65); black stem rust of wheat (1916, 1935, 1953–54); southern corn leaf blight (1970) in the United States; Panama disease of banana in Asia, Australia, and Africa (1990 to present); and coffee rust in Central and South America (1960, 2012 to present). Such losses from plant diseases can have a significant economic impact, causing a reduction in income for crop producers and distributors and higher prices for consumers.

Loss of crops from plant diseases may also result in hunger and starvation, especially in less-developed countries where access to disease-control methods is limited and annual losses of 30 to 50 percent are not uncommon for major crops. In some years, losses are much greater, producing catastrophic results for those who depend on the crop for food. Major disease outbreaks among food crops have led to famines and mass migrations throughout history. The devastating outbreak of late blight of potato (caused by the water mold Phytophthora infestans) that began in Europe in 1845 brought about the Great Famine that caused starvation, death, and mass migration of the Irish. Of Ireland’s population of more than eight million, approximately one million (about 12.5 percent) died of starvation or famine-related illness, and 1.5 million (almost 19 percent) emigrated, mostly to the United States, as refugees from the destructive blight. This water mold thus had a tremendous influence on economic, political, and cultural development in Europe and the United States. During World War I, late blight damage to the potato crop in Germany may have helped end the war.

Diseases—a normal part of nature



Humans have carefully selected and cultivated plants for food, medicine, clothing, shelter, fibre, and beauty for thousands of years. Disease is just one of many hazards that must be considered when plants are taken out of their natural environment and grown in pure stands under what are often abnormal conditions.


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